Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter
ATTORNEY-AT-LAW RICHARD Small told the Court of Appeal yesterday that there were attempts of bribery and intimidation by certain forces to prevent Janice Allen's mother from pursuing her case.
Mr. Small, who is representing Millicent Forbes, mother of the 13-year-old deceased, is seeking to have a jury's verdict quashed.
According to him, Ms. Forbes was even offered $150,000 but she refused it. He said that she and members of her family were also intimidated.
The girl was shot dead at her gate in Trench Town, West Kingston, in April 2000. The police reported that the girl was shot in crossfire between the police and gunmen. However, eyewitnesses gave statements in which they contended that the girl was shot after the shooting had ceased. Police Constable Rohan Allen (no relation to the deceased) was charged with murder arising from the girl's death. He was freed on March 15, 2004, in the Portland Circuit Court after the Crown offered no evidence against him. The judge directed the jury to return a formal verdict of not guilty.
WITNESS OFF THE ISLAND
The policeman was freed because the prosecutor informed the court that he received information that a policeman, who was a vital witness in the case, was off the island. The prosecutor said he received information that the policeman was not returning to the island. It later turned out that the information was false.
Forbes is contending that the jury's verdict was obtained by fraud and misrepresentation. She first applied to the Judicial Review Court to have the verdict quashed, but that court threw out her application. She is seeking a declaration that what took place in the Portland Circuit Court was a nullity. The lobby group, Jamaicans For Justice, has taken a keen interest in the case.
